The invention relates to viscous, gel-like ester mixtures and to their preparation.
It is the aim of the invention to produce viscous, gel-like ester mixtures from easily available starting substances by simple methods. The viscous, gel-like substances are used in the technical field, in lubricant formulations among other things, and especially in the cosmetic field, in which its use is contemplated preferentially as a viscous oil component or oleogel. They are also used as pharmaceutical adjuvants.
Known viscous, gel-like ester mixtures on the basis of different fatty acid-polyol partial esters have only limited usefulness. European Pat. No. 0014 308 describes viscous ester mixtures of fatty acid polyol partial esters condensed with dicarboxylic acids, but the control of their viscosity is limited due to such substances becoming thermoplastic polyesters as the incorporation of dicarboxylic acid increases. Furthermore, viscous, gel-like compounds can be prepared from unsaturated oils having dry properties by thermal or oxidative polymerization. It is known to form oleogels from oils and fats and partial esters based thereon, in two-component or multiple component systems, by means of thickening agents such as those, for example, on the basis of soaps, natural lay minerals such as bentonites, silicon oxide or hydroxide, cellulose ether esters, polyurea compounds or ureido or amido compounds. Frequently occurring deficiencies of these oleogel-forming multiple substance systems are lack of transparency, unpleasant feel on the skin, excessively high gelling temperatures, limited possibility for the creation of gel systems of low viscosity, and especially the bleeding of oil from such gels in preparations of active substances.
The problem therefore was to prepare viscous, gel-like ester mixtures of high transparency and high gel stability, with a viscosity which can be adjusted to predetermined levels.